Archeologists excavating the ruined Guatemalan city of Cancuen havestumbled across the remains of what they believe is one of the pivotalevents in the collapse of the Maya civilization - the desperate defense ofthe once-great trading center and the ritual execution of at least 45members of its royal court.

An enemy as yet unknown not only wiped out the royal dynasty about AD 800,but systematically eliminated religious and cultural artifacts - ineffect, killing the city and leaving it abandoned to the elements,according to new research announced Wednesday.

The archeological team found dozens of remarkably preserved skeletonspiled in mass graves, as well as other artifacts, indicating what the leadresearcher described as "a war crimes scene."

After the siege of Cancuen, cities in the western Maya lowlands in what isnow Guatemala were abandoned, most within 20 to 30 years, the researcherssaid. The displaced populations moved to the east and north, where theyeventually depleted local resources and faded away.

"This was a critical historical moment, like the assassination of[Austrian] Archduke [Franz] Ferdinand [which triggered] World War I," saidarcheologist Arthur A. Demarest of Vanderbilt University, whose teamdiscovered the charnel house this summer. "It set off the domino ofClassic Maya collapse."

Added archeologist David Freidel of Southern Methodist University, "Thisis an effort not to try to subordinate the royal court to an overlord, butto absolutely wipe it out. It's a remarkable and very poignant example ofthe kind of violence that marks the collapse of the Maya civilization."

It might have been a nobles' revolt, a peasants' revolt or an outsideattack, said Freidel, who was not involved in the discovery. "We justdon't know."

But the city's occupants clearly were aware of the impending disaster.Demarest and his team found a system of hastily constructed and unfinishedstone and wooden palisades that they say showed a desperate attempt todefend Cancuen.

Spearheads scattered throughout the city, abandoned construction sites andskeletons with markings of spear and ax wounds bear witness to theintensity of the battle and the finality of the defeat.

"Clearly, these defenses failed," Demarest said.

The Maya dominated Central America for more than 1,500 years, from wellbefore the birth of Christ to late in the first millennium. Theyestablished a complex network of kingdoms dominated by "holy lords,"building large cities with palaces and pyramids in the region, reachingtheir peak from AD 300 to 900.

Then, they disappeared.

The mysterious nature of that collapse has captivated at least twogenerations of scholars, provoking theories including environmentaldespoliation, drought and vicious warfare. Even the time frame is thesubject of debate, with some arguing for a sudden collapse within a fewyears and others for a prolonged disintegration over 2 1/2 centuries.

The new discovery "supports Demarest's view that the Classic Mayacivilization collapsed by endemic warfare," said archeologist HeatherMcKillop of Louisiana State University.

"The massacre is one of those rare events in archeology where an event isfrozen in time," she added.

The site of Cancuen, at the headwaters of the Pasion River, has been knownfor more than a century, but it was generally regarded as an insignificantoutpost until five years ago, when Demarest's team discovered a 170-room,three-story palace sprawling over an area the size of six football fields.

The palace was surrounded by workshops for jade, obsidian, pyrite andother precious goods.

Excavations in the last five years showed it was an unusually wealthy citybecause of its ability to supply other cities throughout the empire withtrade goods used by the upper classes to signify authority - necessary formaintaining their position.

The city's kings maintained their position over four centuries throughtreaties, intermarriages and diplomatic missions without engaging inwarfare. "They were not the greatest or most powerful dynasty, but theywere the cleverest," Demarest said.

The dynasty reached its peak during the 50-year reign of Taj Chan Ahk. Hisson, Kan Maax, reigned for only about five years before the attack thatended the city's existence.

Demarest's team was finishing its dig for the summer when Guatemalanarcheologists Sylvia Alvarado and Tomas Barrientos, tracing a system ofwater channels through the city, stumbled on a 90-square-yard cistern,filled with mud, directly in front of the palace.

When they began digging in it, Demarest said, they found "bones, bones,bones and more bones . more bones than I have ever seen."

Bones tend to degrade quickly in the jungle, but the mud helped preservethese.

"This is the strangest . find I have ever made," he said.

With his team's season nearly finished and the rainy season approaching,Demarest called on the Forensic Anthropological Foundation of Guatemalafor assistance. Formed in 1996 after the signing of the Guatemalan PeaceAccords, the foundation excavated the mass graves of thousands ofGuatemalan villagers killed in civil war. It has also been sent toBosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Rwanda and Afghanistan to investigate othermassacres for war crimes trials.

"This was a war crimes scene," said Demarest, whose excavation was fundedby the National Geographic Society and the National Endowment for theHumanities.

Under the direction of Guatemalan archeologists Fredy Peccerelli and JoseSuasnevar - both former students of Demarest - the team found the remainsof 31 people in the cistern. The bodies were those of men, women andchildren, including two pregnant women.

Subsequent excavations revealed the bodies of Kan Maax and his queen in anearby shallow grave and a dozen other nobles in a grave north of thepalace. Their identities were established by their jewelry, headdresses and other artifacts.

Some of the nobles may have been wounded or killed in the defense of thecity, but most were executed by spear thrusts to the throat, "a quick wayto kill someone," Demarest said.

After they were dead, the bodies were ritually dismembered and thrown intothe cistern or graves along with the clothes they were wearing, ceremonialheaddresses, jewelry and other artifacts.

It corresponds with the period when the cannibals from Mexico city didthere major expansion. (Aztecs)

Bishop Landa quotes an old Mayan historian describing the disaster thatperiod was for the Maya in the Yucatan.

This in response to Landa's question -- what happened to the people thatbuilt all these great cities we see the ruins of now (Landa is observingthose in 1535 BC)

The historian described 3 events that led to the fall of the Yucatec Maya.

The conquest by the Aztecs

The 100 year drought.

A great hurricane that killed 2/3 of their population.

We have records of the Aztec "habit" from Bernal -- we have evidence of the100 year drought -- but nothing on that huge hurricane.

After that "conquest" human sacrifice was introduced to the Maya "culture"

You can read a lot about this in the first hand accounts of the Conquest ofMexico by Bernal Diaz Del Castillo -- endless descriptions of huge piles ofbones -- piled up after the meat was stripped off them to feed the Cannibals.

Agreed -- modern ameri8can archeology has a blind spot on this subject --simply stating the Maya were always big into human sacrifice.

However -- the Aztecs never did manage to reach here in Belize -- ancientChetumal -- and there are no "ChakMal" human sacrifice alters at all in theruins here.

You really need read Landa and Bernal first --

American archaeologists are the "FOX" station of ancient cultural sciences-- and should always be regarded with equal "suspicion" as one does inregard to the news FOX broadcasts daily.

In Bernal's rendition -- he was an actually living participant -- it is onedescription after another of mountains piled to the skies made of human bones.